Crime Stoppers offers reward for arrest in the murder of Samir Hannawa WITH VIDEO

The Oakland Press/ DOUG BAUMAN
Athraa Hannawa (center) and family speak to the media during a family and Crime Stoppers press conference regarding the murder of their father Samir. If a tip leads to an arrest by midnight tonight, the reward will be $3500.00.

It was around noon on a brisk November day when West Bloomfield resident Samir Hannawa died.

He was en route to check on his cousin's car at a collision shop in Detroit's west side; the same place he always went, said his family.

As he knocked on the shop's front door, he was approached by two unknown men and shot once in the chest.

The owner of Great Lakes Transmissions called emergency personnel, who came to take Samir to the hospital.

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Watch a report on the Crime Stoppers reward during today's News at Noon.

His daughter Athraa, 19, said there was a 10-minute window between the time her father was shot and when he was transported to Sinai-Grace Hospital where he later died.

Samir died that day -- Nov. 7 -- without saying his last good-byes.

The case still has no leads.

Samir, who left a wife and seven children behind, could be seen pictured all throughout his West Bloomfield home Thursday as his family and Crime Stoppers of Michigan offered a $2,500 reward for anonymous tips leading to the arrest of those responsible for his death.

An additional $1,000 reward was offered if the information was received by midnight Thursday.

The press conference -- meant as a tool to bring any information regarding Samir's death to light -- was itself a revealing glimpse into what kind of man the 49-year-old father was and of the events of the day of his death.

Earlier that day, said his wife Nada, her husband called to say hello.

"He said 'I'll call you later; love you,' but he never called," said Athraa, who translated for her Thursday. "That's when she knew something was wrong."

John Broad, president of Crime Stoppers, stood with the family during the conference, and detailed that "Samir did not die immediately, but was talking."

He said it was unknown what Samir was saying and it is not known why he was shot and killed.

Athraa, a freshman at Wayne state University, said the family doesn't know what the motive was in her father's death, "and that's what we're trying to find out."

She said the circumstances surrounding what many reported happened Nov. 7 are odd.

"The strange thing is that the men didn't take anything ... my dad had about $900, his watch, his jewelry ... his phone; they didn't take a single thing," she said. "If it was robbery, they would've taken things, but this is just too strange for it (only) to be a robbery."

She added that it was broad daylight at an intersection -- Wyoming and Intervale -- and there was a bar right across the street, liquor stores, restaurants. There's a car wash right outside of that place as well.

"It's not like they couldn't have seen it," she said, talking about possible witnesses. "They probably would've heard the gunshot, seen a man who's ...fine one minute and stumbling the next, and they should've heard the ambulance coming."

She said she doesn't doubt that someone saw something, but she realizes if someone did, they might be afraid for their life.

"And that's what 1-800-SPEAK-UP is about -- it's anonymous," she added. "Just imagine if it was your family that went through this. Wouldn't you want to know what happened?"

Athraa said something else was strange about that day: No one in Samir's family knew he was going to the collision shop, and that the shop workers may have lied to him about his cousin's car being fully repaired.

It "very much" raises suspicions about the workers at the shop, she said.

"Why would they tell him it was ready when it was not ... I don't understand the reason to lie behind it," said Athraa.

Valentena, Samir's 16-year-old daughter, said she and her family have been trying to think about the times they had together.

"There was a night when me and him cooked Alfredo together," Valentena said. She said he let her do most of the cooking, and when they were done, he told her how proud he was.

"He said, 'A guy is going to be really lucky to have you in his life ... if I ever let you get married,'" she said, laughing through her tears. "He wouldn't want us to be sad all the time, he would want us to think about the good times."

Athraa spoke of some good memories she had with her father during her graduation day from Walled Lake Western High School.

"He was so proud of (me) ... He said, "Athraa, this is probably the happiest day of my life seeing you graduate with honors; I told you all that hard work would pay off,'" Athraa said between pauses. "That will stick with me forever because without my dad, I wouldn't be ... the hard worker and smart person that I am."

Athraa said that it was very confusing spending the holiday without her father.

"We usually wake up, we all go to our parents' room, we kind of cook them breakfast and we surprise them," she said. "Having a broken tradition is ... confusing ... and having to go to our dad's cemetery to see him, that was really hard."

Samir Hannawa was born in Iraq. He grew up there as a part of a large family, Crime Stoppers officials said in a release.

He attended Baghdad University, where he earned a degree in business. He and Nada came to America in 2000, and worked at a local Detroit market.

His family in America also is large. He has seven children, the youngest of them a 2-year-old.

Anyone who has information regarding Samir's death should call Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-SPEAK-UP or visit 1800speakup.org. All calls and cash rewards are completely anonymous.